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|p) I The Mothers 



Edward F. Hayward 



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Copyright, 1903, by Edward F. Hayward 



All Rights Reserved 



THELi' 
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JUN 5 '903 

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Class ^ xxc. n«. 

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The Mothers 

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Citizen . 

Take heart then. If child hungry you have been, 
The occasion's yours. In yonder Hall exhibited 
A hundred children, more or less, will be; 
While the best mother by a Bench award 
With rich prize will be honored. 

First Traveler. 

Point so fine 
Who can determine? 

Citizen. 

A committee chosen, 
Ten men and women, from the bes* of town. 

First Traveler. 
From such committee serving save me Heaven ! 

Second Traveler, 
How did a theme so homely draw thus late 
The notice of last will and testament? 
And who the donor? 

Citizen. 

Dives Matthewson, 
Whose savings hurt him without lineal heirs, 
Who willed them to what most he honored, what 
Least honor has throughout the childless land, 

— Fair Motherhood. Shafts, arches, temples mark 
What place the Warrior has, the Statesman, Bard, 

— Those who, attended, in the public eye, 
Fight, legislate and sing. Service of all 
Most difficult, most useful to the State, 
The Mother's, had no monument till now. 



(8) 



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The lessons the unmothered learn so well. 

First Traveler. 

Ours has a Forum, to Child Study given ; 
Lectured and booked, tense women you may see 
Rapt in discussion. Come some riper day, 
God's instincts and the teaching babes no more 
Needed or known will be, so wise grows life, 
So learned. 

Third Traveler. 

Ours, a silent, peaceful town, 
Would please you so you know your nerves too well. 
Old men and women walk the shaded streets, 
Or start at footsteps slumberous afternoons. 
So long unwonted, they could hardly bear 
Child-laughter or too sudden shout of boys ; 
Yet you may hear them 'plaining now and then 
The days degenerate, that, childless, mar 
The dear town's future. 

Citizen. 

Happiest town of all, 
So the test work, this one shall come to be ; 
Its bright faced youth a contribution fair 
To Church, State, Business of the world, and all 
Part of what shall to-morrow happen here. 

First Traveler. 

Then on to-morrow trade and traffic wait. 
We'll tarry, brothers, once in life to see 
A Mothers' Festival. 



(10) 



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Third Examiner. 

How is it in your counting you leave out 
The Mother Ornamental, her of art 
And attitude, posing and picturesque? 
How fair in parlors round her silken knee 
Her one or two she gathers, and how well 
The little piece between them is played out ! 

Fourth Examiner. 

Mothers and mothers ! Let the child decide. 
Take suffrage of a fleet on Saturday, 
Who, drifting, lightly touch at many doors. 
Boys know the Mothers of the neighborhood ; 
Kind words, smiles, tid-bits mark the happy port. 
Who ne'er a parlor knew will vote you one, 
Queen of the tribe, great homelike, loving soul. 

Woman Examiner, 

Easy it sounds, to hear descanting men, 

The part maternal in the world to play. 

Nor seems it strange the role by you is favored 

Who so much profit by it. Mother means, 

Of all the slaves enslaving man has known, 

The one most prone and willing. Wonder not 

One gave a prize for it, and all applaud. 

No woman yet e'er dedicated wealth 

In her poor sex to foster such a wrong. 

Second Examiner, 
Ah, heretic ! i Not woman,' dare you say? 

Wo?nan Examiner. 
Not woman — save where only daughters are. 
Such prior and preemptive rights have boys, 

(14) 



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The mother, never known, a halo wears, 
As much excels all mortals as a star, 
Distant in heaven, does outshine the earth. 
This at the outset let us set aside — 
'Tis living mothers here we're to reward. 

Second Examiner, 

Aye, living and prolific ; not afraid 

Of burdens, and as free with hovering death 

As soldiers are. She shall our honor have. 

First Examiner, 

Such honor as have Kings. Strange runs the tale 
Here in our People's Land, which highest rates 
The human, where all hopes of life abound, 
We least find life's expansion. Now and then 
A petted darling our fell care escapes ; 
Out of hot-houses and the fetid schools 
To manhood's stature grows. But mark us well, 
Regretful, hungry, a great people we, — 
While fecund Europe fills our empty lap. 



The test, then? 



Second Examiner. 



Fourth Exami?ier. 



To the hills and pastured fields ! 
A shepherd find who tenderest folds the sheep. 
— You have the picture, 'tis as old as art, 
As Mother Church as precious. Hollowed arms, 
Bent face benignant, and a lamb between. 
'Tis but a Flock and one who safely guides. 

First Examiner. 

A knock. Who is it? 

(16) 



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Joyce. 
Oh, sore 

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Joyce. 

Ever the same. Night, morning, noon, she is 
— The Mother. Here's a little paper signed, 
Three names, three wavering marks, to witness it. 

Second Examiner. 

Strange document, shaped in such childish heads ! 
It shall have weight, believe me, little one. 
So tell your mother. 

Joyce. 

SJie knows not I came. 
Second Examiner. 

Surprise, then, is it? You the gold would take 
And drop it, presto, in her startled lap. 
We must think on it, child. 

Second Examiner. 

A model here 
And hint for judgment, friends, that nearer marks 
The spirit of the will than any yet. 
1 Most children/ one says. ' Nay, the finest child,' 
Another. Third, ' a wild and healthy brood, 
Bare-footed, rugged, in the sun and rain, 
And native to the winds,' commends to us 
The elemental mother. To which goes 
Your wills consenting? 

Third Examiner. 

To the one, say I, 
Who love and wisdom most effectively 
Mixes in compound, be it two or ten 
Her charge is. 



(18) 



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•1 was I • hither, the old wound 

ic mothers opulent 
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ebuked <>f them and doubly poor 
Will teem. 

Mrs. Goodchecr and Mrs. Qmmt 

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/. Goldfrank. 

It once 
ways makes one, call me luch. 

.!/>/. Gi i ti ti 

e me, pray. 

If on unatc f< 

Take mine. 



Mrs. Goodcheer. 

Yes, fortunate. Would you were too. 

Mrs. Goldfra?ik. 

Stripped of your fortune could you count life so ? 

Mrs. Goodcheer. 

Stripped of the treasure Love once gives to us 
We cannot be. Oh, when into our hearts 
We take the tender plants, they grow and grow ; 
Blight falls on them, they wither in the night, 
Cold winter comes, but, evermore renewed, 
They meet us at our waking, and we know 
What life is for us they determine still. 

Mrs. Goldfrank. 

Ten years then have I wasted. Colder years, 
More hungry, never fell upon the heart. 
Oh, I have held out aching arms, the void 
And emptiness with laughter mocking me ; 
Till in the retrospect they seem a wrong 
Done my whole nature. 

Mrs. Queary. 

Not so fast and far ! 
See round you women, new in this our age, 
Who, restful, reach not arms out into air, 
Who prize their freedom. Cradles have I rocked; 
At partings felt the sharp edge of farewells ; 
Domestic altars shattered I have seen, 
And household gods rude handled ; yet, behold, 
Above the wrong and rupture of the world, 
Smiling I stand, a mother unsubdued 
By motherhood. Think you, unto me, 

(22) 



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The meaning of the Primal Light 

Which at the world's first hearthstone burned. 

Gay as the brook that blithely runs, 

Life met us at the threshold ; yet 
The laughter of Thy little ones 

Took from our hearts the Great Regret. 

Protect our homes. Thy chiding Hand 
Lay on our thoughts and deeds untrue. 

Black Self rebuke, and thro' the land 
The sacrificial flame renew. 

Mrs. Gold/rank, 

singing Mothers ! round the circling Globe 
Rises the song of thwarted womanhood, 
The lives that are as flotsam on the sea. 

1 cannot hear you for the plaint and cry 
Of the vast sisterhood that walks alone. 

No prize man gives them, nor the prideful state 
That greatens to contest with sister state 
Earth's full possession. 

Mrs. Queary. 

Wrong your protest runs. 
Potent a magnet as dear childhood is, 
It draw r s but half the mothering of the world. 
'Tis given to dolls and dotage. Husbands are 
Both lords and children to the wives they love ; 
While brothers, sisters, any who know need 
By any name, have learned to lean on it. 



(24) 



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Now that the mothers, now the people, come, 
The moment of Decision too draws near, 
When, crowning her good fortune, One shall be 
Of mothers named the best. Hear, now he speaks, 
He of the Judges who, outranking others, 
With stateliest step and bearing leads them in. 

First Examiner. 

Greeting for all who to this Hearing lend 
Presence and interest. Be it known to you 
That, after ripening the full term of years, 
The Will of Matthewson here comes to fruit. 
This little Daughter lifts now from our hands 
To her who wins it the first Mother's Prize. 
And Mistress Bright, who to the mother's part 
The father's adds, who tender is and strong, 
Brings to an end our searching of the town. 
You, who by sight or hearsay, know the home, 
The work, the woman, make our verdict sure. 
Who of our city mothers first shall be, 
Till next fruit drop from this late ripening tree ? 

All. 
'Tis Mother Bright. 

First Examiner. 

Name and the day agree. 
Fair shines the sun this hour of our award ; 
And fairer henceforth for it thro' the land 
The name and state of motherhood. Oh, poor 
Our prowess, if no Home behind us looms ! 
Ever as masters we go forth at morn, 
How weak at eve returning. Soft hands then 
And clinging fingers of the little ones 

(26) 



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